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Announcement: Let’s Help Envision Take FLYTE

As vacationers, we continually meet individuals from all over the world and expertise cultures and values totally different than our personal. I feel that’s the reason we vacationers are likely to (usually) be extra open-minded. We need to see the variations on the earth.

Traveling provides us a broader perspective and understanding of life, the world, the individuals in it, and, usually most significantly, ourselves.

Three years in the past I began FLYTE, the Foundation for Learning and Youth Travel Education, as a result of I needed to deliver the great thing about journey to younger individuals who don’t have the chance to journey and notice simply how a lot the world has to supply.

Kids who not are solely restricted by their geography however by their group’s world view.

FLYTE has already despatched 4 teams of scholars overseas. That’s over 50 youngsters who’ve skilled the world outdoors their bubble. Fifty youngsters who now have a passport. 50 youngsters who acquired to place what they discovered within the classroom to good use!

Our returning college students all the time inform us how they’ve a brand new sense of appreciation for his or her group, college, and the chance on the market on the earth. They’re impressed to assume greater and do extra.

Maribel, who traveled with FLYTE in 2017 to Ecuador, was so motivated by her experiences that she desires to maintain volunteering. As she put it, “volunteering abroad was one of the most formative experiences of my life…After Ecuador, I’ve chosen to apply to colleges that allow me to help people wherever and whenever I can.”

Our final group of scholars got here from a small, rural group in Victor, Montana. Traveling to Guatemala put immigration in a brand new perspective for them. Julia shared that her journey “makes me realize why people want to come to the U.S. and how lucky I am.”

Tija who FLYTE despatched to Cuba shared how grateful she was to FLYTE’s donors who gave her the chance “to have this amazing experience…to share with my family, classmates, and people in my community.” Likewise, Sam expressed his gratitude for with the ability to journey, as a result of throughout his time in Guatemala, he “became closer to with [his] friends and closer with the rest of the world.”

These journeys have ripple results past simply our college students. Erica, the trainer who led our first journey, informed us that one of many moms who was initially hesitant to ship her son was so moved by how a lot it positively impacted him that she utilized for her personal passport and needed to chaperone the college’s subsequent journey.

Now, as we begin the brand new 12 months, it’s time to announce our subsequent associate college:

While the considered this a part of the nation could conjure up photos of Silicon Valley, profitable tech start-ups, and all issues Google, the truth is that Oakland, significantly the internal metropolis, was hit exhausting through the crack epidemic and the town nonetheless feels the consequences of its previous to at the present time. Oakland has been repeatedly named one of the violent cities within the nation and the poverty stage is excessive on this space.

70% of the scholars that attend Envision Academy obtain free or reduced-price lunch, lots of them are first-generation immigrants, and would be the first of their household to go to varsity. We’re so excited to associate with this college due to their dedication to college students’ long-term success and the way a lot they prioritize household involvement.

Families are a core a part of the college tradition and actively take part of their kids’s schooling. Many of those households are sometimes single-parent, matriarchal households, and regardless of the challenges they face, they’re extremely invested of their kids’s success, and work exhausting to make ends meet. However, alternatives for these college students to journey overseas and even again to their native nation to go to their household are actually restricted.

We’re going to alter that by sending them to Colombia on the finish of June!

Jeremy, the trainer main this journey, is an inspiring advocate for his college students and created a complete curriculum that may make his classroom come alive as soon as the scholars step off the aircraft. He is a digital media arts trainer — and thru the coursework that will likely be built-in into the journey, the scholars will learn to use images, movie, and artwork to inform their tales.

These college students are shiny and promising however Oakland nonetheless bears scars from the violence of drug commerce. Students nonetheless reside in a society the place crime, jail and police brutality are fixed threats. We need to broaden their worldview by displaying them communities in Colombia which have overcome comparable struggles.

As a part of their itinerary, they’ll go to the Gold Museum and Bolívar Plaza in Bogotá, then head to Cartagena, the place they’ll discover the Spanish Inquisition Museum and study Afro-Caribbean avenue artwork in Getsemani, then take a tour of Palenque. Another important a part of their journey would be the service element, throughout which they’ll work with a neighborhood nonprofit group to study what it’s prefer to reside in these communities.

In his software, Jeremy wrote that at Envision Academy, “[we] want our students to be curious, collaborative, critical thinkers who are inspired agents of change. A cultural analysis is a perfect way to empower them to do so. All of our instruction is around project-based learning with real-world connections. By stepping out of their comfort zones, our students can engage in collaborative inquiry and analysis in order to see their community through a new lens.”

For most of those college students, it’s their first time overseas and I feel Myani actually exemplified why all of them need to be part of this: “I want to be involved in this program because I feel my financial situation holds me back from my dreams. I’ve always wanted to travel the world, since a little girl. But my family’s financial situation has held me back.”

In occasions like these, the place disconnection and concern permeate our tradition, I’m extremely hopeful, as a result of Tija, Julia, Sam, Maribel, Myani, and their classmates are the leaders that may form our future. They will someday be policymakers and enterprise homeowners, who, with the compassion, empathy, and perspective that comes from journey, will make choices that profit all, not only a choose few.

Together, we as a journey group can create these waves of change in our world.

We’d love so that you can be a part of this motion and assist us affect these youngsters!

Here are two methods you’ll be able to take motion.

(1) Make a tax-deductible donation.

Our purpose is to lift $35,000 to completely fund the prices of the journey (flights, lodging, transport, passports and many others.) for 18 college students and 4 chaperones. After our #GivingTuesday marketing campaign final November, we’re over midway there!

Every contribution in any quantity will make an enormous distinction. Out of the 1000’s of donations which have funded our earlier journeys, nearly all of them have been below $25. Every greenback helps us get nearer to sending these college students on a life-changing journey.

Just click on right here to assist make a distinction.

(2) Join our group of FLYTE Advocates.

We just lately launched this Facebook group of journey influencers and lovers who need to use their platforms to assist unfold the phrase about FLYTE.

Our FLYTE college students are unimaginable and galvanizing, and that is your probability to encourage the subsequent technology of changemakers by connecting them to the world.

Help us change the world.

– Nomadic Matt

P.S. – Remember your donation is tax deductible in case you’re within the states! Here is the donation hyperlink once more!